Homeric Hack
Warfare in the Age of Heroes
The time of the Trojan War and the Homeric tales built round this war are but elusive shadows to modern man. The time of the Trojan War borders on prehistory in regard to written literature. Homer preserved this War of Heroes and their time (circa 1184 B.C.) with something of a backward glance, surely blending his own current history (circa 800 B.C.) with that of the heroes. Regardless of how Homer created the West’s first great epic poem, create it he did with all of its bigger than life people and shrouded historical fact. A tapestry of words greater than that of Bayeux.
Homeric Hack is designed to recreate in miniature individual duels, the epic battles of the Trojan War, from the battle of Thicket Ridge to the sack of the city itself and even the battles Aeneas fought in Italy. Only your imagination sets the parameters of the great engagements you can recreate. The system allows for heroic duels, large army engagements, naval engagements and sieges with the silver lining being a simple Divine Intervention system.
The system is not for tournament play, consequently gamers seeking rules written in stone will be disappointed. If you love Homer you will appreciate the system for what is does. Unlike other game systems, players are encouraged to change the system to suit their own historical and literary interpretations. Use the system as written or create your own Divine Intervention results or Optional Leader rating. The rules are literary and historical interpretations revealed through game mechanics. It is taken for granted that while these interpretations and resulting mechanics may not be absolutely correct, they are indeed formulated from the events detailed by Homer and Virgil and current historical theories on Homeric Warfare.
Contained in this book are a table or contents and an index which assist the player in finding various topics. Throughout the book are easy to use unit generators, diagrams, a unique gaming approach to using chariots and examples. Once familiar with the turn sequence, methodologies of shooting, melee and morale most players will require only the Quick Reference Sheet to play the game. I have found that when players gain a general understanding of the system they require little assistance after turn three.
Players can find support on-line found at Homeric Hack. Here you will find errata, FAQ, system up dates, you can contact the author directly and many other interesting items including, designer notes, articles on Homeric Warfare and more.
Contents
- Title: Homeric Hack – Warfare in the Age of Heroes
- Period: Ancients, 1500 B.C. to 1184 B.C.
- Type: Tactical Miniature Wargame
- Time Scale: 1 turn = 20 minutes
- Ground Scale: 1:600 (1 inch = 50 feet)
- Troop Scale: 1 figure = 5 to 200 men
- Basing: same as DBA (60 or 40 mm frontages)
- Author: Philip J. Viverito
- Format: 40-page rule book
- Language: English
- Publisher: L. M. W. Works, Amherst, NY
- ISBN: 1-8895-8415-0
- Published: October 2004
Chapters
- Getting Started
- Basing
- Leaders
- Creating Units, Commands & Armies
- Terrain
- Turn Sequence
- Declaration of Charges & Charge Responses
- Shooting
- Morale
- Move Charge & Charge Responses
- Movement
- Melee
- Rally
- Hero Challenge (Optional)
- Divine Intervention
- Siege Rules
- Special Trojan Allies
Quick Reference Charts and Markers
- Markers
- Homeric Hack Casualty Calculation Matrix
- Homeric Hack Quick Reference Sheet